NFL 2023 Changes

[spartacat_12]

20 hours ago, Pigskin12 said:

I don't think the current look is bad. I just feel that there is more they can do with this color scheme/brand. The generic shoulder striping, for instance, doesn't do quite enough for me anymore. Ideally, I hope they strike a balance between generic striping and tacky over-designed cat scratch marks.

 

Personally I think the shoulder striping has aged pretty well with the changing cuts of jerseys. It's allowed them to avoid the awkward half-stripe that teams like the Steelers have had to use as sleeves have gotten shorter/eliminated.

[Carolingian Steamroller]

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

Hot take: the football cardinals brand no longer has any value, and hasn’t for decades - probably since the change to “Arizona”. They probably should have been totally rebranded then, and should be now. 
 

I don’t personally care about how old the franchise is, and I doubt people in Arizona care about what happened in Chicago, or Tom Tupa, etc. Its essentially a new team, and should have a more meaningful identity. 
 

Thumbs down all you want, as I’m sure I’m in the minority. But trying to force a team that plays in space ship and has relocated (or changed location names) 3 times to be hamstrung by a classic identity doesn’t feel right. Just retire the whole thing. 

 

Interesting question as to where the Cardinals identity fits.

 

They're technically the oldest franchise in football but they play in a hyper modern, sun belt stadium.

 

Who knows where they'll go with changes.

[shstpt1]

1 hour ago, 8BW14 said:

I’d like to see the Cardinals look like the red and white version of Wazzu or the Jaguars, simple, but contemporary. I think the yoke on the white jersey is a salvageable idea if you want to have a little more going on with the white jersey. Maybe a copper or sand colored beak would be a nice local nod. I hope I’m wrong but I’m afraid we’ll get something less Jaguars/Bengals and more Titans/gradient helmet Jags…with LOTS of black.

 

shameless plug: (3 years old, don’t really love the sunburst anymore)

 

The red yoke on the white jersey is the worst part honestly. When they play another red team, it gets muddied up because there is too much red, especially with red pants. 

 

[Brave-Bird 08]

4 minutes ago, shstpt1 said:

 

The red yoke on the white jersey is the worst part honestly. When they play another red team, it gets muddied up because there is too much red, especially with red pants. 

 

 

Falcons-Cardinals in Atlanta for several years was impossible. 

 

[FiddySicks]

3 hours ago, BBTV said:

Hot take: the football cardinals brand no longer has any value, and hasn’t for decades - probably since the change to “Arizona”. They probably should have been totally rebranded then, and should be now. 
 

I don’t personally care about how old the franchise is, and I doubt people in Arizona care about what happened in Chicago, or Tom Tupa, etc. Its essentially a new team, and should have a more meaningful identity. 
 

Thumbs down all you want, as I’m sure I’m in the minority. But trying to force a team that plays in space ship and has relocated (or changed location names) 3 times to be hamstrung by a classic identity doesn’t feel right. Just retire the whole thing. 

I dunno about that one. The A’s have moved twice and are possibly about to make a third move (probably into some hyper modern dome/retractable roof stadium). I certainly wouldn’t want them to ditch their brand for something new. I think that’s the thing about classic brands. If done right and with enough recognition, those brands should be able to transcend their location. Now, I wouldn’t argue that the Cardinals set is more iconic than, say, the Raiders, because that would be tremendously silly. But the truth of the matter is their brand is nearly a half century older than the Raiders (you could argue it’s closer to 80 years of you want to include pre NFL days, which I’m hesitant to), and I really do think there’s some heft to that that the Cardinals have never figure out how to utilize properly. And it’s kind of perfect for a place like Phoenix/Maricopa County, because that area lacks a lot of that classic culture just due to being a more recent city in terms of population growth (and that’s not to knock the Phoenix or AZ culture, because it’s definitely rich in its own right. It’s just more overlooked outside of the area).  It’s definitely an area, mainly due to having so many transplants, that’s more receptive to assimilating parts of another area’s culture. You could even find a way to play up the old Chicago connection due to their being so many people who live there who are originally from the Chicagoland area. It might be a bit of a reach, but I think with enough tact, that could be done effectively. “Did you leave Chicago because it’s too damn cold? Are you sick of the Bears? Well, so did the Cardinals! Come join Chicago’s other team!” Or something like that, anyway. 

[AgentColon2]

The Cardinals classic brand has more to do with being a loser than anything else.

[Brave-Bird 08]

I'm in the rebrand camp. Don't change the nickname, but they've never had anything that LOOKS like Arizona, and if we have learned anything from the Coyotes, Suns and D-Backs is that there's plenty of imagery that can really stand out. 

 

Keep the modern logo, keep a shade of red, keep the uniforms simple, but do not be afraid to branch out. Like AgentColon2 said, it's not like previous iterations of their style harkens back to anything. 

 

My favorite idea that has been used on these boards over and over is going for a deeper red and a "sand" color, which not only aligns with the D-Backs and Coyotes but also with the original Racine Cardinals, who wore maroon and tan. 

[HOOVER]

1 hour ago, TruColor said:

I'm now hearing that the new White helmets will have the undertone-metallic flake (or whatever that's called), like the Black alt helmets.

Is this also coming from the ASFN board?  If so, I'm about to sign up.

[gosioux76]

27 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

I dunno about that one. The A’s have moved twice and are possibly about to make a third move (probably into some hyper modern dome/retractable roof stadium). I certainly wouldn’t want them to ditch their brand for something new. I think that’s the thing about classic brands. If done right and with enough recognition, those brands should be able to transcend their location. Now, I wouldn’t argue that the Cardinals set is more iconic than, say, the Raiders, because that would be tremendously silly. But the truth of the matter is their brand is nearly a half century older than the Raiders (you could argue it’s closer to 80 years of you want to include pre NFL days, which I’m hesitant to), and I really do think there’s some heft to that that the Cardinals have never figure out how to utilize properly. And it’s kind of perfect for a place like Phoenix/Maricopa County, because that area lacks a lot of that classic culture just due to being a more recent city in terms of population growth (and that’s not to knock the Phoenix or AZ culture, because it’s definitely rich in its own right. It’s just more overlooked outside of the area).  It’s definitely an area, mainly due to having so many transplants, that’s more receptive to assimilating parts of another area’s culture. You could even find a way to play up the old Chicago connection due to their being so many people who live there who are originally from the Chicagoland area. It might be a bit of a reach, but I think with enough tact, that could be done effectively. “Did you leave Chicago because it’s too damn cold? Are you sick of the Bears? Well, so did the Cardinals! Come join Chicago’s other team!” Or something like that, anyway. 

 

I agree that the Cardinals' lengthy history is something that hasn't been capitalized upon by the franchise.  But if we're talking about brand value, I'm not sure comparing it to the A's situation really works.

 

The A's can claim to be the best team in baseball during multiple eras in both Philadelphia and Oakland. There's a legacy there that's worthy of being maintained. Plus the name itself is probably the most language-agnostic moniker in all of sports. 

 

The Cardinals have won two championships, both in Chicago, a city most people would surprised to know the team once resided. Their one recent Super Bowl notwithstanding, I can't really say age alone is enough to suggest a full rebrand isn't plausible. 

 

[Indigo]

3 minutes ago, AgentColon2 said:

The Cardinals classic brand has more to do with being a loser than anything else.

I think that's part of what's being lost here. The Cardinals made the playoffs 6 times before moving to Phoenix. That's 65 seasons!! From 1922 to 1987, the Cardinals made the playoff under 10% of the time. 

Since the move to Phoenix they've made the playoff the same amount of times. 6 times in 35 seasons. For reference, the Panthers have made 8 apperances in 29 seasons.

Since 1935, the CHI/STL/PHX/ARI Cardinals have the most losses, and only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a worse winning percentage.

 

 

They aren't proud of thier history because there isn't that much to be proud of, outside some pre-SB championships.

[Sec19Row53]

17 minutes ago, Indigo said:

I think that's part of what's being lost here. The Cardinals made the playoffs 6 times before moving to Phoenix. That's 65 seasons!! From 1922 to 1987, the Cardinals made the playoff under 10% of the time. 

Since the move to Phoenix they've made the playoff the same amount of times. 6 times in 35 seasons. For reference, the Panthers have made 8 apperances in 29 seasons.

Since 1935, the CHI/STL/PHX/ARI Cardinals have the most losses, and only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a worse winning percentage.

 

 

They aren't proud of thier history because there isn't that much to be proud of, outside some pre-SB championships.

Not trying to defend the grand history of Cardinal Football, but playoff appearances didn't exist for a long part of Cardinal history. The number of teams making an appearance has grown, so that 'making the playoffs' isn't a good measure to compare 'now' vs. 'then' in any sport.

[MJWalker45]

15 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

... I don't hate it.

 

Something tells me if they go with this color on a helmet, they'd add a "Pat Tillman tribute uniform" like Arizona State instead of something that looks good. 

15 hours ago, Volt said:

Silver with the Carolina Blue is kinda what makes their brand so unique.  Plenty of teams in sports use Columbia Blue/Carolina Blue/Light Blue whatever you wanna call it, but I can't think of another team that uses it with Black & Silver.  If they ditch Silver, it'll be a tragedy.

I know, it's not technically Carolina Blue, it's "Panther Blue" or Electric Cyan or whatever, but you get my point.

Carolina needs to add an outline to the current logo if they are going to make black the primary helmet. Personally, I hope they don't. 

[HOOVER]

53 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

Something tells me if they go with this color on a helmet, they'd add a "Pat Tillman tribute uniform" like Arizona State instead of something that looks good. 

Carolina needs to add an outline to the current logo if they are going to make black the primary helmet. Personally, I hope they don't. 

 
Agree on both.  Sounds like they're sticking with White, but adding a Tillman uniform and using Sand  or "Desert Sand" as a team color regardless makes sense.  

Truly hope Carolina doesn't use the Black helmet and that's one of the prime reasons why.  When they made the slight adjustments in 2012 to the primary logo, it made it perfect for them and on the Silver helmet.  All they need to do with the helmet is update the stripes to something that doesn't scream 1995.

If they've decided to absolutely ditch Silver, it'll be really sad.  If they did, I hope they would've considered an XFL 2.0 Dallas Renegades shell instead of Black.  Even then, the Red is what made those complete, as did the Black hardware & bumpers:

 

That helmet stripe, on Carolina's existing helmet, using Panther Blue as the center stripe instead of Red, would be perfect for Carolina, even if the thin Panther Blue inside stripe ended in a sharp point in the back bottom, inside of the straight Black stripe.

 

[MJWalker45]

2 minutes ago, Volt said:

 
Agree on both.  Sounds like they're sticking with White, but adding a Tillman uniform and using Sand  or "Desert Sand" as a team color regardless makes sense.  

As much as the NFL glossed over some of the things that happened to Pat Tillman in the military, they don't need to roll out a uniform to suck anymore cash out of him and the fans that don't know any better. 

4 minutes ago, Volt said:

If they've decided to absolutely ditch Silver, it'll be really sad.  If they did, I hope they would've considered an XFL 2.0 Dallas Renegades shell instead of Black.  Even then, the Red is what made those complete, as did the Black hardware & bumpers:

 

 

 

A Carolina blue helmet would be the better option over black if the Panthers got rid of silver helmets. Just make it glossy and not matte.

[HOOVER]

2 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

 

A Carolina blue helmet would be the better option over black if the Panthers got rid of silver helmets. Just make it glossy and not matte.

Agree.  The XFL 2.0 version of the Renegades helmet was far superior to the 2023 version.  Dwayne Johnson should be slapped for letting this Renegades helmet on the field.

Still, this wouldn't look nearly as good in the NFL with the ban on Black helmet hardware, and it also would destroy the Panthers' best look, which is this:

 

[Sec19Row53]

19 minutes ago, Volt said:

Agree.  The XFL 2.0 version of the Renegades helmet was far superior to the 2023 version.  Dwayne Johnson should be slapped for letting this Renegades helmet on the field.

Still, this wouldn't look nearly as good in the NFL with the ban on Black helmet hardware, and it also would destroy the Panthers' best look, which is this:

 

 

 

I love that we all seem to have different hills to die on. I'll never not chuckle at this one.

[WBeltz]

6 hours ago, TruColor said:

I'm now hearing that the new White helmets will have the undertone-metallic flake (or whatever that's called), like the Black alt helmets.

Would that also be similar to the Jags black helmet from their set with the toothpaste piping? Seems like a weird finish to have on a white helmet unless you had red flakes mixed in there. Even then I don’t think that’s a good sounding look

[AndrewMLind]

 

[4_tattoos]

19 hours ago, Volt said:

Silver with the Carolina Blue is kinda what makes their brand so unique.

One could argue the Detroit Lions did it before the Panthers came into existence. Detroit's Honolulu blue is pretty close to the Panther's shade.

[HOOVER]

37 minutes ago, AndrewMLind said:

 

 PVC patch...is that a first in the NFL for on-field jersey use?